He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Dated

You know how Harry Potter has a scar emblazoned on his forehead from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Dan has a big T for Trouble on his, marking him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Dated.

Let me start in the middle: I go to this party at an awful place in Santa Monica, in some dark and crowded and loud basement bar, and I feel like I've accidentally, anachronistically stepped into a college party circa 1992 except that everyone here is old -- by old I mean my age -- and it's hard to have a proper conversation.

Of course you don't go to a bar for proper conversations -- I'm not that old -- but you can hardly see anybody or anything except the mosh pit of bodies swaying in 2-by-2 dancing/flirting/making-out duets. Maybe it's just one of those nights when I feel terribly left out of everything no matter where I go. (I've just come from a Shabbat dinner with lots of married couples and kids -- try finding an outfit that fits both these occasions.) Or maybe it's Dan.

I met Dan a few weeks ago at an awesome party downtown. It was held on the entire floor of an industrial building on Spring Street, where a dozen or so artists were showing their work -- mostly photographs and paintings but with a couple of jewelry and clothing designers interspersed. The lighting and the ceilings were low in a way that made everyone look more scintillating than they might in a retro basement bar in Santa Monica. Of course, it could have been the flutes of wine or the chocolate truffles. Or could it really have been Dan?

I wasn't even looking to meet someone. I was actually dating someone else.

Which is why Dan and I could talk like normal people, and not single people on the make, dressed up in our best costumes and our most sparkly personalities, working furiously to obfuscate our skeletons beneath endless layers of jaunty jingles. So we talked about -- what else? -- relationships.

My one-two analysis: Dan has commitment-phobia, candy-store syndrome, and/or model rocket-scientist disorder. The thing is, like with milk or eggs, he can predict the exact shelf life of his relationships, but he goes for it anyway, pretending it's real because he wants the comfort. He's the guy that, out of the blue, when things were going perfectly well, says that things are not going well at all and disappears like he's in the FBI Witness Protection Program. Dan is like many of my male single friends -- friends I swear I'm going to dump because of the pain and torture they subject on womankind.

On that particular night, Dan's problems didn't bother me, because I had someone else. But then a little while later, I didn't.

So when Dan called a few weeks later to invite me to this party in Santa Monica. I remembered his periwinkle eyes and his scruffy brown hair and the way he constantly touched my arm for punctuation. I said yes.

I finally locate him among the throngs, and we start talking. The problem is, we continue our conversation where we left off a few weeks ago: He regales me with his dating problems. How this one girl in Northern California is outdoorsy and smart but she lacks passion. How this other girl in Los Angeles is an aerobics instructor with an awesome body but not an intellectual.

"I want someone who is smart and challenging and has interests and is Jewish," he says. "Is that too much to ask for?"

But I know: We've entered the friend zone. I'm like the fat girl in high school that boys confided in but never dated. Except that in high school I was the girl that everyone dated and didn't confide in. So, I don't know what to say when Dan points out the hot waitress. Okay, it's hard to ignore her: fake boobs, butt tattoo, nimble waist that is so out of place in this dump -- but am I such stuffed cabbage that I have to hear about the next entrée?

I've always heard stories of couples who were friends before they started dating, or people who claimed to have married "their best friend."

But how is that possible? How can you see a person stripped of all their games, their pretensions, their public face, and still go through with it anyway?

Even in the darkness of this alcohol-drenched room, I can see Dan clearly: I'd never get anything more than an extended one-night stand that seemed like a romance. And he's told me way too much about his technique and the endgame.

So I said my goodbyes and left Dan to go after the hot waitress. That's what friends are for, right?

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